Symptoms
& History
Physical
Findings
Stop
& Think
Lab
and X-Ray
Differential
Diagnosis
The
Disease
Treatment
Conclusions
Quiz
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Cholelithiasis
Hereditary
factors above and beyond ethnicity, so called lith genes.
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Impaired
bile salt synthesis and excretion (can't keep cholesterol in soluble
form).
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Increased
serum and biliary levels of cholesterol.
Cholesterol Stone
Formation
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Bile becomes
supersaturated
with cholesterol.
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Hypomotility
of gallbladder promotes "nucleation."
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Mucus
hypersecretion in the gallbladder traps the cholesterol crystals,
allowing aggregation into a stone.
Cholesterolosis
of the gallbladder wall is another feature of high cholesterol levels and
something that may play a role in stone formation.
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